| The Quest for Urban Green Space |
| Written by Wendy Smith | |||||
| Tuesday, 01 April 2008 | |||||
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A slew of new condominium projects make downtown living a possibility for more Knoxvillians than ever before. Many of downtown’s newer residents have abandoned life in suburbia to be part of this vital community where neighbors know and speak to each other. Some of those would say that manicured lawns and garage doors mostly serve as barriers to relationships with neighbors.
While urban living may be dynamic, there can be drawbacks to life in a big box. Come spring, when daffodils appear overnight and the grass turns electric green, the notion of gazing at
Don’t tell Sally Mitchell that outdoor access from a loft apartment is impossible. She moved downtown in 2001 after living on nine acres, and while she’s always loved the pace of downtown living and the connection she feels to her neighbors, she needed a place where she could be outside at home. Sally and partner Crispin Spencer decided on the grand renovation of taking a staircase through the roof of their top-floor space at Fire Street Lofts and adding a room and deck. While Sally is pleased with the almost finished results, she says the project has taken much more time and money than she had hoped when she started a year ago. Besides the engineering and design challenges of renovating a 100-year-old building, city codes and the property deed created further obstacles. “It was an unbelievable burden to get it accomplished,” says Sally. The biggest challenge for the rooftop project was moving materials from street level to construction site. A crane was brought in to lift large items, like the staircase that would make the new space accessible. But Sally says the final result is fabulous. She hopes to plant an herb garden this spring and a true rooftop garden when the project is completed. She enjoys the vista from her new space, even her view of the interstate. “The fun thing is that there’s so much activity to watch,” she says.
“People come out in the evening to have a drink or to grill. It’s nice, because if you want to come out and play, you can, but if you don’t want to, nobody knocks on your door,” says Mary. The neighbors also have informal get-togethers every six weeks or so.
Mary sees a trend in downtown development toward more outdoor accessibility. The Bob and Marie Alcorn are some of the fortunate few who have a deck that rivals anything in their suburban past. They moved into their space in the Gallery Lofts in late October, so they have yet to put their 350+ square foot rooftop deck through its paces.
But their planters are in place, begging for flowers, and the Alcorns are excited about hosting alfresco dinner parties with views of The Alcorns moved from Fire Street Lofts to have a little more room, and Bob says he wouldn’t have considered new property that didn’t include open-air living space. He enjoys being able to see the mountains with only minimal outdoor maintenance. “You don’t have to mow, but you can still garden in containers,” he says.
“The greatest joy of our work is to see people using public open spaces. It’s like we’ve provided the set and now we get to let the actors use it. It’s a joy to see,” says Mike Fowler. He is proud of his firm’s work at each site, but he has a special feeling about Volunteer Landing. “It was
While April showers bring May flowers to all of
Farmers’ Market           
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That’s why many downtown dwellers are looking for homes that provide some sort of access to the outdoors. Jon Clark, a realtor and development partner with Dewhirst Properties, says having outdoor space is very important for some people. “A lot of first time buyers in the downtown area have more suburban expectations. They’re coming from traditional single-family homes, so this is a big shift,” he says. “Some developments will allow for balconies or decks, but some can’t, because the layout of the building makes it physically impossible.”
But getting outside in a downtown development doesn’t have to be difficult. Dan and Mary Holbrook live in 
Fortunately for urban dwellers who don’t have access to the outdoors at home, green space is never more than a block or two away. Landscape architects from Ross/Fowler have created and rehabilitated most of the public green spaces downtown, making them a draw for city dwellers and suburbanites alike. Their work includes the renovation of World’s Fair Park, 
They may not have lawns to mow, but the folks who call downtown home are not complaining. Sally Mitchell sums it up: “People think they can’t do downtown because they don’t have outdoor space. But that’s a myth.”
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